Before leaving Switzerland for the month, BK and I had discussed the fact that I was really worried about how Tanner would do with us being away for a month. At Christmas, when we were away for an extended period of time, he lost about a quarter of his body weight, which is a lot for a 10-pound dog. We also discussed that at some point our discussions about Tanner needed to turn from being what other treatments can we do, to what is his quality of life.
The boys have been with a dogsitter who takes great care of them. Not to get into the gory details, but Tanner got sick and started having seizures Thursday night, she took him to our vet, and he called early Friday morning to tell me that he needed to know how we wanted to treat Tanner. The thing that really sucked was that Baby K and I were already in the US. It's hard losing a pet anytime, but when you're an ocean away, it felt even harder.
I knew the answer when the vet called. No, we didn't want to send him for more tests or more treatments. He was blind (not a life-threatening thing), had diabetes, didn't enjoy walks anymore, went on hunger strikes quite often, and I really think he only felt good about 10 percent of the time. Despite all the love we have for the little guy and everything we did for him, his life was just not enjoyable or comfortable anymore.
I'm thankful that BK had not left Switzerland yet, and was able to quickly leave work and go to be with Tanner, just before he had to leave for the airport to come to Texas. He said it was hard, and I'm sure it was. It would have been a little less hard if BK and I could have been together and there for one another, but it just wasn't in the cards.
The vet did speak with me numerous times about various things, with one of them being what we wanted him to do with Tanner after he passed. The options were: 1) store him in cold storage until we returned so we could bury him in the garden; 2) "burn" him with other animals; or 3) "burn" him and we could have his ashes. You may be flinching at the word burn, and so was I, but when you live in a place where English is not the language, you understand that sometimes things just get lost in translation. Of course he meant cremate, but still...
For me, he doesn't belong in Switzerland, as that's just our temporary home for a while. He belongs under the tree in the backyard at our house in Fort Worth. He spent many of his younger days chasing squirrels out of the backyard and acting like a wild man, and I just feel like that's where he (his ashes) belongs.
Sorry to be a downer to anyone reading, but obviously this is a pretty big deal in our lives, which I typically share about, and it's been on my mind, so there you have it. I would go on about what a great dog he was, funny things he did, but I'm not quite there yet. Apparently before Baby K came along I posted quite a bit about the pups. You can read 18 other posts I've written about the boys here if you want to reminisce.
Don't worry, I'll let you know how the Tobster gets along. The dogsitter reports that he is now doing better than when Tanner first went to the doctor, is happy and playing with her dogs. The furry dog should be okay, and is typically happy if he can just be with his people, and especially his baby.
Okay, that's all for now. I rest easy knowing that Tanner boy is no longer in pain and is probably doing his three-legged run and barking his head off in dog heaven now. Rest In Peace Tanner boy; you will be missed.
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